Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“Call an ambulance, Mikhail,” Polina says quietly. "She needs to be seen immediately." She’s kneeling beside my sister, her normally pale face even whiter than usual. She holds her hand. "Now."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Aria
"Mikhail, please. Sit down."
I sip the glass of water Polina gave me and wish she could talk some sense into him. He's been ranting and raving and insisting on attention since we got in here.
“What’s fucking taking them so long?”
Polina shakes her head. "Aria isn’t the only patient. You threatening the doctors isn’t going to make her better anytime soon."
Still, I can't help but find it a little bit endearing.
"That guy at the nurse’s station? He decided he was going to eat dinner. Dinner — when my wife could be in danger. I saw him leave and come back with food!"
Polina's lips twitch, and her eyes quickly come to mine before returning to him. "A doctor is allowed to take a break, Mikhail, especially when it's not an emergency. And Aria’s stable and fine.”
He might be complaining, but there are six doctors in the hallway and four nurses in the room with me. When a Romanov comes into the ER, it's all-hands-on-deck. They’ve been practically rolling out the red carpet since we got here. I don’t blame them, really, Mikhail’s as volatile as a ticking time bomb.
"You look familiar," one nurse says with a smile to Polina, probably trying to ease the tension in the room.
"I was in here recently. I had a clinical.”
The nurse's eyes widen comically. She's just realized that Mikhail Romanov's sister is going into nursing. I don't blame her. This could mean a lot of things for the staff here.
I put a tentative hand out to her. "He can be really nice when he wants to be," I say quietly.
The nurse laughs. "I'm sure he can," she replies before she pats my arm. “He’s not the first overprotective husband I’ve met.”
Do I enjoy his overprotectiveness? Yeah, I think I do.
"The small talk is great," Mikhail says, his attempt at calming himself down laughable. "But where is the doctor? We're not getting anywhere."
"We are, sir," the nurse says with a placating smile. "We've ruled out poisoning, as you suspected. We've also ruled out abdominal distress. The doctor will be in momentarily to explain what's happening."
Of course, my husband immediately thought Volkov was responsible for my illness. Who could blame him? But I only ate the food Ekatarina herself gave me, and I've been socializing so much that I barely ate.
The doctor walks into the room, a tall, black woman with thick hair in a knot at the nape of her neck. She sees Mikhail and smiles. "Mr. Romanov, I believe we've met before?"
Mikhail audibly sighs in relief. "Thank fuck. Someone I can trust."
The doctor raises an eyebrow. "Language, Mr. Romanov. This is a family practice here. We see children on the same floor as adults."
Mikhail gives her a sheepish look. "I'm sorry." Polina and I look at each other. Someone giving my husband a dressing down? I need her name and number.
"I don't often get to say this in a situation like this, but I have good news." She smiles.
Mikhail stands by my side and holds my hand, looking positively stricken. God, the poor man. He's seen his father die, and I happen to know that he witnessed severe casualties when he was enlisted. I also know he was engaged before me, and the woman he was engaged to ended up mysteriously dead. It seems almost everyone in his life who mattered to him has been killed, so I don't really half blame him for being out of his mind right now.
"I could use some good news,” he says on a growl. “What is it?”
"Your wife is having a baby." She smiles at me. I stare back at her.
A baby.
Mikhail stares at her, a dazed look coming over his face, another rarity.
I swear, for one second, I'm afraid he's going to cry. My husband — the most formidable person I've ever met in my life. Crying.
It makes tears spring to my own eyes, and a lump form in my throat. I feared this, even half hoped for it, but now that I have the confirmation, I'm not so sure how I feel.
"Then why the pain? Why the bleeding?"
"It's nothing to fear, Mrs. Romanov. You have what we call a subchorionic hematoma. It's a collection of blood between the uterine wall and the fetal membrane, honestly, pretty common during pregnancy. Sometimes it does cause abdominal pain, and it does cause bleeding, but it almost always resolves itself on its own without harming you or the baby. We'll have to monitor you closely to make sure everything progresses as it should, but I have no doubt you'll be in excellent hands." She nods to Polina and Mikhail.
She's not wrong. He may have the family doctor move in with us.